The U.S. Air Force recently grounded 82 two-seat Lockheed Martin F-16D Fighting Falcons due to canopy sill longeron cracks that have developed between the front and rear pilot seats, according to a Tuesday statement released by the service. Read More →

Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) is “on the precipice,” of releasing a final restricted request for proposal (RFP) for its surveillance intensive unmanned carrier-based air vehicle (UAV), NAVAIR’s head of unmanned aviation told reporters on Sunday in Norfolk, Va.

F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the Tomcatters of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31, launches from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) on July 31, 2014. US Navy Photo

U.S. airstrikes have helped paved the way for Iraqi Kurdish forces to retake a critical dam in Northern Iraq according to the Pentagon. Over the past three days, U.S. forces have conducted 35 airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL) terrorists around the Mosul Dam complex. Read More →

American aircraft carriers at their peak are the queens of the high seas, outclassing even America’s nearest peer competitors. They’re the anchors of U.S. seapower, and have a commensurate price tag, costing billions of dollars to build and thousands of sailors to man.

But even the proudest ships outlive their military usefulness — and sometimes they’re barely worth the trouble to tear them down. Read More →

Sailors direct aircraft as an F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to the Tomcatters of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31 takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77). US Navy Photo

America announced its overt military support of the struggling Iraqi government in Baghdad with F/A-18 Hornets dropping two 500 lb. bombs on Iraq and Syria Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) targets near Irbil, Iraq, on Aug. 7.

The strike, launched from the USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77), was followed by a speech from President Barack Obama who said, “there is no American military solution to the larger crisis in Iraq. The only lasting solution is for Iraqis to come together and form an inclusive government—one that represents the legitimate interests of all Iraqis, and one that can unify the country’s fight against [ISIS].”

North Dakota (SSN 784) is rolled out of an indoor shipyard facility at General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Conn. US Navy Photo

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has concluded an investigation into questionable third party components of its latest Virginia-class attack boat — North Dakota (SSN-784) — clearing the way for the submarine to commission in late October, NAVSEA told USNI News on Thursday. Read More →

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect walk toward the Syrian border on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain on Aug. 11. Reuters Photo

The Pentagon on Thursday vehemently defended its initial assessment of the humanitarian crisis in northern Iraq, despite new reports the amount of Iraqi civilians trapped on the Sinjar mountain range was closer to 4,000 — not 40,000. Read More →

Since the 1996 Taiwan Straits crisis, when China tried to intimidate the island by testing missiles in waters near Taiwan and the United States responded by sending two carrier battle groups to the region, Beijing has built up its naval forces of conventionally powered submarines, corvettes, and frigates to influence events in “the first island chain” off its coast—and looks to extend its reach by 2050 to the Mariana Islands with nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Read More →